Nice Shrubs!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Already heading for 7 AM and I cannot seem to shake off the Stanley Cup cobwebs. I have always loved watching hockey and admittedly spent a lot of time and money over the years with my son Adam who began playing at age 5. He played the sport on the rink and a couple times in the emergency room. The Bruins victory was special to me because I have been watching the goalie, Tim Thomas, since he first skated onto game ice at the University of Vermont. That seems like a long, long time ago, especially today, as Adam awaits the birth of his third son.


Yesterday's sunshine was special but customers were absent for most of the day. When the sun shines after a long period of rain, people have personal chores to tend to. The forecast looks good and we expect some visitors for Fathers Day weekend. Hope you can find time to get out too.

This is the second year we have sold shrubs and lilacs are included in the offering. They are especially good looking this year although they have about bloomed out at the nursery. Here at the house, the butterflies and honey bees are in their glory and the main bloom time has just started. The fragrance is noticeable as soon as you exit the car and people stop to ask the names and if we have any for sale.

5-6 years ago I bought Gail a lilac named Primrose. It was supposed to be pale yellow with a nice fragrance but it disappointed us as it turned out to be white and had only limited fragrance. Gail was bothered some and I was not pleased with the "special" price I paid for the wrong shrub. It's over six feet tall now and covered with white blooms but it will never be the one we wanted. When you think about the volume of product that each nursery puts out in a year, it is a miracle there are not more "white is not yellow" problems.

We are also selling hydrangeas again and they look great because of the weather. They are a way from blooming but the plants are thick and nice and even the newer Pink Diamonds that started only a month ago are putting out lots of new growth. Someplace in the hundreds of shrubs is my favorite hydrangea, White Moth. I need to find those today and be sure they are out where people cans see the name. Because of the widespread advertising by the big guys, customers ask for the pink and blue hydrangeas. We don't sell those yet because I haven't had the time to grow them here and insure they do well. Keeping them blooming the right color is not as important as making sure they will live through Vermont's changing winter-spring seasons. .....kind of analogous to the Knockout Roses that received so much publicity a couple-three years back. Great looking roses but they do not live in Vermont despite the zone classification or the hype.

Today is a work day for most but there's nothing wrong with taking a day off to enjoy sun after the spring we have experienced. If you can find some time for yourself, bring some friends and stop and see Gail today. She has some great flowers that will add some sparkle to your gardens. As for me, I'll probably be replacing more storm damaged fence, still trying to keep one step ahead of Mrs. Deer and the kids.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where three ravens are talking loudly as if everyone needs to be out and about by 7. Have to get going here!


George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Growing Hardy Plants for Hardy Vermonters and Their Friends!

Reminder of Fall

Thursday, September 16, 2010

39° here on the mountain above Peacham Pond. The sun is breaking through the clouds, the grass is heavy with yesterday's raindrops, and the morning is quiet as if the wild things don't want to stir yet. These are reminders that fall is approaching. Even the hydrangeas by the back walk have taken on a rosy-pink color to their happy faces as reminder of impending seasonal change.

Two feet of light fog wanders across the trout pond this morning but the glass finish on the water doesn't move. Karl the Wonder Dog, just back from a quick walk, has renestled by the now-cold wood stove as if continuing where he left off last night. Life is good for some dogs!

I have always promised those who follow The Vermont Gardener that I would try to talk gardening interspersed with people stories, Vermont, my family and friends. We have just returned from our annual Maine vacation and as such I would like to write a couple stories here about people I met and places I went. Hold tight and I'll get back to garden talk very soon. First up, two men I met in Maine....check tomorrow morning, as for now I have to get into the woods and get some wood worked up before the heavy rains of this afternoon chase me inside.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where goldenrod yellow prevails, fooling people that they are allergic to it (not so) while providing a food source for insects galore.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Cool August Morn!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Up at my regular 4:30 today but I'm the one having trouble catching on to the fact that the sun doesn't shine for another hour. Karl the Wonder Dog has the message and he sleeps on later but my circadian rhythm wants me out and about early. I've been through all the email, Facebook for both accounts, and I have a plan for Twitter in a few minutes. I even replaced a pair of boot laces. Still no sun.

From a nurseryman's perspective I greatly dislike the way America marketing equates summer as ending when kids go back to school. When I was in school this happened right after Labor Day but now some schools begin as early as this week and that sends a marketing message that summer is over. In Vermont, August is the chief summer travel month for out of state, out of country visitors but for Vermonters with kids, the end of summer message is promoted in all the media. Sales for kids clothes and school supplies makes people think gardens are finished and everything should be on sale. I blame places like Wally World, Lowes and Home Depot for making it seem that gardens should be put to bed in mid August when in fact some of the nicest colors are just beginning. Obviously part of this is the responsibility of the gardener but I guess my suggestion is that we are tuned to marketing and it's so ever present that we can't step beyond it. Gail's attitude is to continue to work on gardens which display nice color through September and into the first part of October and that's what we do here.

As I walked the nursery gardens last night before leaving for the day, I was surprised by the number of daylilies we have still blooming. It's a real surprise this year because major bloom occurred three weeks early along the east coast and many gardens have been colorless for almost two weeks now. Strawberry Candy up top is blooming with fresh scapes now and Patio Parade, just below, offers beacon-like yellow that's clear from a distance. Jen Melon, renamed Starstruck, has strong bloom that makes visitors ask "what's the name?" not because they haven't seen it before but because it has lots of buds when other daylilies are budless.

Years ago Pardon Me hit the daylily stage and although this brick red, small flowered daylily (just below) has lost some of it's original popularity, it blooms and blooms en mass and works well right now with the notion that fall is approaching. I need to move some later on to the front of the gardens where I can slide in a few pots of mums and work their mutual strengths together for people to see.
Sunday Gloves has been out for two weeks and will continue for a couple more. My picture doesn't do it justice. To me it's a shorter version of my favorite So Lovely which blooms on 3 foot scapes that work so well next to any variety of hydrangea available. Sunday Gloves can be planted in front of hydrangeas with So Lovely to the sides so both pick up the chartreuse-often -changing-to-pink in many hydrangea florets.

Chicago Apache is a "drive George crazy" daylily because it seems more susceptible to climate change than others. Up at our home gardens at 1530 feet, it would typically be just starting to bloom but in the previous two years at the nursery at about 750 feet it would be well under way by now. This year when other daylilies have faded, it blooms on with perhaps another week of bloom left. I'm not pleased with how late spring frosts impacted on its summer appearance but the flower count is commendable.

As daylilies wind down in the field, Gail has many in pots that are growing with glory. August Frost, Ruby Throat, Hush Little Baby, Red Sentinel, Tiger Kittens, Alabama Jubilee, Fire King, Bold Tiger, Leebea Orange Crush on rebloom, Late Pink, --surprisingly the list continues on. The anenomes are beginning to show color and the hydrangeas are providing great contrast.

If you are out and about today, stop by. If you have time, visit a greenhouse or nursery this week and you'll be surprised. Gail visited von Trapp Greenhouse in Waitsfield yesterday and although Sally wasn't there when she stopped by, Gail said she was greeted by the nicest, most helpful employee who knew his plants and found a budded, late blooming daylily she wanted, a nice sedum for my collection and a summer blooming daylily that Gail has been searching for. That was nice. Gail and friends lunched in Warren and went over the mountain for a couple hours at Rocky Dale for an equally pleasant time with Amy and Kathy and a tremendous selection of plant material. Vermont nurseries are all great and we've never found a place where our questions haven't been answered with professionalism and warm smiles.

Have to get going here! Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where Mrs. Doe Deer and one fawn just appeared for breakfast outside my office window. One more cup of coffee and I'm out of here.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens
On Twitter, sometimes with pictures, as vtflowerfarm

Dimming Lights

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Already almost 5:30 AM and I am making slow but steady progress getting ready to head to the nursery for the day. An hour ago I awoke from a good sleep to a strange thud-thud-thud sound that almost reminded me of a page from H. P. Lovecraft or perhaps Steven King. Something big was walking up the outside front room steps and whatever it was knocked over a couple begonias. Once again Gail had left the door open and apparently that left enough dinner smells to serve as a greeting card for the local bears. I wish she wouldn't do this but after a long day outside, some things are forgotten even if they are important.

As many along the east coast have noted, this has been a strange growing season. The daylilies are about finished blooming and the zinnias, cosmos and statice planted long ago for cut flowers are beginning to bloom but a month late. A couple daylilies look as if they will bloom again but the fields are already turning a shade of brown as even the leaves are finished. The maples along the roads are turning and yellow leaves are already littering the ground as if the first frosts of late September have begun.

Last night I walked out back with Karl the Wonder Dog and the wild apple trees are dropping small fruit for the deer about a month earlier than usual. A doe and nursing twins held steadfast under a tree as mom ate apples and the little guys bumped her for milk and flicked flies with their tails. We walked further into the woods and noticed the white birches are yellowing and dropping leaves too. The spring up the road from our house has a line up each night of campers, locals and long distance visitors in need of water because their systems have already failed or because usual sources have dried up. Just more sign that things are changing.

I'm at the nursery myself today as Gail and Alex are in Burlington for the day. The weather should be nice and I expect I will be busy. If you are out and about today, stop by. We have some very nice hydrangeas for sale --8 varieties left--so enough to find something right for your property. There are plenty of farmers markets and outside activities this weekend. Be sure to remember Kingdom Farm and Food Days next weekend. Different perspectives of the Northeast Kingdom where farmers farm and people smile friendly welcomes to people they have never met.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where 8 turkeys are feeding outside my window. Now that the sun has risen a bit I see that last night's thud-thud-thud was the bears as the remaining blackberry bushes over the bank are rolled flat. I sure do miss sunrise at 4:30!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook at Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Back On Line Folks

Saturday, August 7, 2010

A beautiful morning here on the mountain. 73 degrees at 9:30 and a peaceful quiet when campers from the pond are usually making lots of noise. Karl the Wonder Dog is snoring after an extended morning walk and Gail is manning the nursery with friend Steve while I mow the back fields and get caught up on some of the work here at the house. Place looks like a jungle but you can't be at two places at the same time.

Have been off line until yesterday at 3 PM when Hughes arrived with a new satellite dish, modem and receiver. I can't say that I am happy how long this last modem lasted but the breakdown forced me to upgrade to better download speed and more band. Alex is happy with his movie viewing and I expect Gail will smile when she can break away from her plants and get back on line. I have been trying to read business mail using our laptop and various WIFI sites but I have to say I'm not that good balancing the thing as I work.

Sadly, the fields of daylilies are fading away as more and more buds bloom out. Gail has a great assortment of late flowering daylilies in pots and these are very nice. I have to get a bunch of pictures printed of daylilies that are finished as the plants are very large and sales should continue. Just the same, between the bare root sales that we do every year this time and the fine new late daylilies, customer numbers have been excellent.

Hydrangeas are coming into bloom in large pots and there are still 10 varieties for sale. Gail and I have been pleased with the sales to date and just need to find someone interested in 7 that I planted in the middle of the field two years ago. They are in full bloom and just need to move sometime between now and mid fall.

The lumber mill started cutting my hemlock timbers yesterday. I have a hundred ordered--6"X 6" by 8 foot to form steps down the mountain to the lower daylily garden and the hosta and shade garden. This is another fall project that will make it easier for visitors to get around. Sometimes after rain, even the grassy hillside is slick with the clay that's underneath.

If you are out and about today, this is a great day to climb Owls Head in Groton State Forest. Visibility is excellent and you can see a big slice of Vermont that will make you smile. As for me, it's back on the tractor for more field and woods road mowing.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where 6 deer visited last night at dusk and started eating our late blooming daylilies. Karl's loud comments moved them along. At 3 AM black bears visited for blackberries which were just ripening nicely over the bank from my office window. Now I am walking around in a slight daze, wishing for more sleep, fewer interruptions, but knowing there are things to do.

Be well! Come visit

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as George Africa or Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens
On Twitter almost daily as vtflowerfarm

Just Hydrangeas

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Almost 4 PM here on the mountain with only tree silhouettes prominent against the edge of Hooker Mountain. Snow coated trees in the bright sunshine will only last for another twenty minutes but the glory of today's sun was pleasing despite a high of 8 degrees and a slow, constant, coat penetrating wind.

I had a shopping list ready by 6 this morning but one thing after another rearranged the day. By 1 o'clock I was heading for the truck and it crossed my mind that I hadn't checked the back roof for a couple weeks. That ideal memory of the inch of pouring rain that fell that memorable day erased the need to check the roof for snow build up.....but one look around the corner today ruined some good plans. The snow had collected to more than two feet in the roof valley and it needed some attention. An hour later I was wet and tired and a trip any place was forgotten.


Last winter I ordered some hydrangeas to see how they would perform in the heavy clay soil at the nursery. Gail had grown 4 varieties here at the house and although I never learned the names, I liked them as I have since being a kid growing up in Woodstock. Most farmers had two or three varieties and our old house came with a giant that rose to eight feet by perhaps 6 feet in diameter. The flowers were tennis ball sized and everyone liked it best when the flowers started.

My preference leans towards those that are green centered with open flowers around the outer edges. They remind me of the wild viburnum flowers I find in late April in the swamp towards the back of Peacham Pond close to the old Civilian Conservation Corps cabin. The unopened flowers in the center are most attractive and together they combine nicely with other garden flowers.

As the buds mature, the bloom size relates to the variety. As they ripen to pink and rose and begin to dry, they always remind me of plants from centuries past. Each fall Gail picks quantities of the dusty colored whites and hangs them upside down to dry. She waits until after Thanksgiving and then combines them with armfuls of cut fir balsams and stems of winterberries in old sap buckets along the walkway and on the steps leading to the house. The shrubs have such good production that Gail's snippings don't ever seem to be missed.


My plan is to add lots of different hydrangeas to the perimeter border at the nursery. The height and texture differences will allow Gail to interplant them with lots of perennials. Then we will have a nice display, a reason for visitors to walk over to the river bank and look down the Winooski, and a chance to see various other plant products that make nice bouquets.

Here at the house Gail mixed some with a number of Judith Freeman/The Lily Garden hybrid lilies. Many of these grew to 6-7-8 foot tall Orienpets,.... so tall they had to be tied to the nearby James Macfarlane lilacs and the hydrangeas themselves. Almost everyone who sees the combination stops for closer examination and to comment or ask questions. It really is quite a nice combination!
As with any new plant, there's lots to learn but we are set up learning them. I just bought Gail a copy of Michael A Dirr's Hydrangeas for American Gardens and I can already see I have my work cut out for me. Gail can look at a name and a flower and absorb it in an instant but for me this requires serious application and future recall require the engines to work harder.

As example of my shortcomings, I don't have a name committed to memory for any of these pictures. I am trying very hard to memorize those I just ordered and I know that with Dirr's book, I'll be on my way.
If you are interested in hydrangeas, stop by and see us this summer. Although I purchased 12"-18" liners, they will do well in the clay soil and I expect good sized plants by late summer. I bought Chanzam Chantilly, Compacta, Grandiflora, Kyushu, Paszam, Pink Diamond, Tardiva and White Moth. Mr Dirr produced a CD that includes pictures of 900 hydrangeas. I intend to purchase the CD to help in my learning and in our marketing endeavors but I never intend to get to more than a couple dozen different hydrangeas. That will be plenty for the gardens and customers in and about Vermont Flower Farm! My opinion!



Writing from the mountain where a light wind has already pushed the temperature down to zero and the animals of the woods are probably bunking into the snow--their version of thermal blankets-- for the night. I'm feeling like I spent too long on a ladder but dinner smells good and the woodstove is set.

Warm winter greetings,

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm

Need A Plan Folks, Need A Plan

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Light snow falls from the sky as the blue jays kick snow off the platform feeder searching for breakfast. The weather station transmitter still wears a snow cap from recurrent snowfalls as the adjacent anemometer spins at only 2 mph. Now that's a change! Burlington, Vermont received record setting 33" of snow, Marshfield only 8", Walden over the Cabot hills, 20 inches.

Karl the Wonder Dog is stretched in front of the Hearthstone, already sharing snores and occasional dog dreams after a brief morning walk. He had an opportunity to bark at the town plow truck and neighbor Dave from the pond as he headed to work. Dave is a traveler as his business involves installation and maintenance of highway truck scales. He didn't stop today so I don't know where he is headed.

Weeks prior to the holidays, Gail and I put together the flower seed orders and added a few items to our plant orders but it wasn't until Sunday that we finalized some tree and shrub orders. In typical years if you wait this long to place orders you might well be disappointed. This year is different. The economy has challenged growers and wholesalers as to quantities available for spring shipment. Gail has commented that "pleases and thank yous" and "anything else we can help you with?s" are in abundance.

Gardeners need a plan and we have several. With only two of us coordinating the work, and with a limited budget, often we can only share plans with customers and visitors, hoping that they will be patient with us as funds and time prevail. The picture up top shows the daylily beds looking down from the shade houses. Part of our plan is that sometime before we both pass on to a different place, there will be a 12 foot display garden and walking path around the entire five acre property. Some of that work has been started and more will be accomplished this spring.

We placed an order which was confirmed yesterday for lilacs and hydrangeas. Our plan thinks in terms of colors, heights and textures from spring until fall and various lilacs should help define the perimeter and provide a palette of colors that will draw gardeners like powerful magnets while freeing us from the time and expense of various advertising formats. Color does sell and we know this will work but it will take some time.

Lilacs have always been popular with us although we know little about available varieties or dependable sources. Last year I bought John L Fiala's book Lilacs: A Gardeners Encyclopedia.
It's a wealth of information and except for the quality of the foreign paper and colored inks, and the need for a table to place it on for reading, we have no complaints. Good gardeners need good resources to confirm what they think they know and offer what needs to be clarified. You'll like the book if you share an interest in lilacs.

When Gail and I let our memories of youth rewind for a bit, we remember that farms and farm houses most often had lilacs someplace on the property. White and blue-purple were the prevalent colors and neighbors flocked to those few who had the deep purples or the burgundy reds that offered fragrance with the fine color. Those old lilacs were well remembered for their suckering habits and it was not uncommon to see farmers on their front lawns with hand saws, or later on with chain saws bringing 15 foot, out-of-control shrubs back to earth.


More recently, hybridizers have looked to fragrance, size and bloom time to satisfy modern gardeners wishes. Fragrance is wonderful in the garden or in the home but having a shrub that attracts butterflies and night flying moths affords a different beauty for more of the waking day.

Tiger Swallowtails and monarchs flock to our lilacs beginning around Memorial Day when the swallowtails hatch in large numbers here and fly to the lilacs as soon as they have dried their wings and had a drink.

The University of New Hampshire released James Macfarlane several years ago and Gail bought one as soon as she read about it. It has exceeded the height and width that was originally recorded but I am happy we are familiar with it as it will become the main lilac in front of our perimeter fence. When accompanied by perhaps another dozen-fifteen varieties over time, lilac time at Vermont Flower Farm from spring to Independence Day should be colorful.


Our order will arrive in mid May and includes liners in the 12"-18" range. We trialed some last year and a good percentage bloomed. We'll offer some in pots and will plant the rest. Our choices are not profound at this point but any new garden needs foundation plants that set off everything else. We have chosen reticulata, villosa, and pekinensis species, and as well as more James Macfarlane and Donald Wyman, and have added Katherine Havemeyer and Wonderblue. If you have ever passed by Goddard College on Route 2 in Plainfield during lilac time, the creamy white pekinensis 25 feet tall give a fragrance that catch your attention. That's why we have added some at our nursery.

If you have noteable lilacs that fare well in zone 4 Vermont, send us a reference note. Friend James from the land of McIndoe Falls offered his list which I'll share here. He is a very talented gardener and his ideas and combinations belong in a book. Give these some thought just as we will: Agincourt Beauty, Agnes Smith, Albert F. Holden, Alphonse LaVallee. Atheline Wilbur, Banner of Lenin, Beauty of Moscow, Betsy Ross, California Rose, Charles Joly, Evangeline, Excel, Glory of Moulin, Hope, Lucie Baltet, Ludwig Spaeth and Maiden's Blush. Nice choices!



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where lilac talk is nice but the stack of firewood needs replenishing.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm